Bob Jungels secured his first victory in Etixx-QuickStep colours as a late solo attack saw him win the opening stage of the 2016 Tour of Oman.
The 23-year-old, who joined the Belgian squad from Trek Factory Racing this winter, attacked with just over 2 kilometres remaining from a select group that had formed after two crucial late climbs. The four-time Luxembourg time trial champion had a 55-tooth chainring on his bike and so managed to open a slim lead on the fast downhill section and managed to stay clear as the road flattened out and then pitched up again in the final 500 metres.
Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) came home for second six seconds later, followed two seconds later by Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and the rest of the group. With bonus seconds of 10, 6, and 4, on offer for the top three finishers, Jungels now leads the race overall by 10 seconds from Pauwels with Bardet third at 14 seconds.
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"We did the recon yesterday and I told the mechanics to put a 55-tooth on the front for the descent. I planned this attack for two days, even longer, so I'm happy with it," Jungels said after pulling on the leader's red jersey.
"My objective was to win a stage and I've done that now. Tomorrow it might be hard to defend my lead but we have Dan Martin who could be really good on Green Mountain. We'll keep taking it day by day."
Richie Porte, a pre-race favourite, saw his general classification ambitions dealt an almost fatal blow as he lost 3:24, having found himself in difficulty on the on the Al Jissah climb – the second and more severe of the two.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/1Svg4a5
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